Today, media consumers are presented with a vast number of television channels from where media content can be consumed. Television channels are traditionally broadcast and all media consumers that are entitled to receive the television channels are presented with the same schedule of television content. In addition, a vast amount of content is available as part of Video on demand (VOD) systems that allow users to select and watch content over a network as part of an interactive television system. VOD systems either “stream” content, whereby a user selects some content and it begins to play on the television set almost instantaneously, or make it available to users via “download”, where users download the content in its entirety to a set-top box before viewing can start.
XFM (www.xfm.co.uk/els/mi-xfm.asp) offers a branded radio/music service, which adapts to listeners' preferences through user interaction. A listener is presented with a music player that allows him/her to select from a limited range of genre based (branded) music channels. To alter the composition of the channel, the listener can optionally offer a personal rating (from ‘never again’ to a ‘strong preference’) for a track or the track's artist while a track is playing. The listener may also skip to the end of a track (up to a maximum of 6 tracks per hour) without affecting the channel content. In the absence of listener input/feedback the channel continues to play in the manner of a conventional radio service.
International patent application published as WO05/055092 discloses a method and apparatus for disseminating heterogeneous data through branded electronic information delivery channels. A conglomerate apparatus is employed with three main elements: an authoring apparatus, a content hub and a client apparatus. The purpose of the conglomerate apparatus is to facilitate the delivery of multiple forms of digital content from a content service provider to a content recipient via a client apparatus that when employed by the content recipient will change its shape, colour and other visual and aural attributes so as to reflect branding specified by the content service provider. To achieve this, the content service provider uses the authoring apparatus to create sets of content items and then associate these content sets with brand attributes. The content service provider can also add control information to the content sets that can control the sequence in which content can be accessed by the content recipients. This content and branding information is then published by the content service provider at a content hub that is accessible to the intended content recipient. The content recipient can then access this content and brand information from the content hub. When viewing or otherwise making use of the content using the client apparatus, the branding attributes associated with the content are applied to the client apparatus so that the client apparatus's visual and aural characteristics will reflect the branding attributes intended by the content service provider. The client apparatus also monitors the content recipient's use of the content items and stores metrics about this usage within a database in the client apparatus. These metrics can then be sent back to the content service provider's content hub and then accessed by the content service provider for further analysis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,821 describes a system and method for localizing an aggregated electronic program guide (EPG) schedule covering a plurality of service environments that includes an information filter located at the subscriber's set-top box conditioned to recognize which schedule information is relevant to the viewer's service environment. Only schedule information corresponding to the viewer's own service environment is stored in the EPG's schedule database. The result is an electronic program schedule that is tailored to the viewer's specific service environment without the use of costly equipment on the transmission side of the program schedule feed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,527 describes an end-to-end global distribution system that can produce and deliver live content as well as pre-recorded content and other content, to commercial passenger aircraft via a satellite and ground-based infrastructure. The content can include live television, pre-recorded content, advertisements as well as other content such as software applications, internet material, etc. The delivered content can be tailored based on distribution criteria such as airline, aircraft, origin and destination, flight number, cabin class, and others. Such system can be advertiser-supported and include targeted and distribution specific advertisements. Furthermore, access to the content can be controlled by various conditional access parameters at the server level, to various aircraft zones, and at the passenger level.
International patent application published as WO03/104940 describes systems and methods for recommending programming content to a user. The content may be recommended to a user based on personal context, personal relevancy to a user and/or based on content provider criteria. For example, movies may be recommended based on a mood selected by the user, the user's zodiac sign, and/or any other information relevant to the user. Additionally, interactive gaming simulations may be used to recommend content to users. For example a virtual slot machine, an interactive trivia game, and/or other types of gaming simulations may be employed to recommend content to users. The content provider and/or service provider may also link context suggestions to such interactive gaming simulations.